The Legend of the Akujin
by Angrydude Beta
Summary: Slade's relentless quest to resurrect Trigon leads him to an ancient legend with roots in the Far East...


Disclaimer: I do not own teen titans, but I do however own an X Box.

Chapter 1: Trial and Error

Somewhere in the Japanese wilderness…

A man stands alone in the cold darkness of the night. He stands perfectly still with his head down and his hands positioned in front of him as if in prayer. After a long period of silence he looks up and begins chanting a strange incantation in an unrecognizable tongue. A strange symbol appears on the forehead of his black and orange mask, a red, "S"-like mark arcane symbol.

Who is this man? Many people know him by many names. Some know him only by his vocational title, "The Terminator". Others, mainly employers, know him as Deathstroke. But to a certain group crime fighting teenagers, he is known simply as Slade. The former Vietnam veteran who became a freelance mercenary and eventually earned legendary status in the criminal underworld for his insidious tactics. But lately he has taken up a new hobby: the resurrection of the arch-demon Trigon, through the use of the demon's daughter, Raven. With the devil's return to Earth, Slade would finally have what he had sought for his entire life.

Slade continues chanting and begins to glow. He then starts making fast ninjitsu hand movements, ending the sequence by slamming his fists together, knuckle-to-knuckle. His hands ignite and a bright light emanates from his body. The light illuminates the area, revealing that Slade stands in the center of a large, circular structure.

The large circle sits at the middle of a very large, rocky canyon. It has a diameter about the size of a tennis court and is adequately decorated. The many cracks and vines growing all over it, however, indicate that it has been around for an incredibly long time. Various engravings of elemental arcane symbols and other un-decipherable marks adorn the structure and the canyon walls. The center platform where Slade stands is elevated about 7 feet above the rest of the structure. Along the rim of the structure are 6 smaller circular platforms that are elevated slightly lower than the center platform and are equidistant apart. Each of the outer platforms has a different elemental symbol. Behind each platform stands a statue of a warrior, or at least what remains of one. Time had abolished most of them, and the ones left standing were either half-there, missing parts, or both.

The flame that began on his hands has now fully engulfed his entire body. More strange tattoos, gifts from Trigon, appear all over his costume. He kneels down and punches the platform. The flames move from his body, through his arms, and sink into the platform. Suddenly, the platform glows a brilliant light that pulses in tune with Slade's heartbeat. The light begins to flow from the single platform along the structure to the 6 smaller platforms. As the light hits them, they each begin to glow a different color: red, yellow, green, blue, white, and purple. As the light from the structure continues to grow brighter, Slade stands back up and thrusts his palms to the sky as if he was offering something up.

Each of the small circles then fired off a beam of light. The rays converged on Slade and a large beam fired from his platform, piercing the night sky. Then it started to expand. Soon it was wider than the structure. Then it expanded past the canyon walls. The beam grew wider and wider until it was as wide as a football stadium.

"Marvelous" said Slade as he struggled to contain his excitement. Few things ever gave him this much of an adrenaline rush. In fact, the only other things that thrilled him this much was the heat of war and providing someone with a very, very slow death. His one eye grew wider with excitement as his target became visible through the dimensional rift: a large, Japanese castle that emanated an intense, white light. The beam began pulling the castle through the rift. Everything was going perfectly fine until the castle was half-way out of the portal, then it stopped its descent.

"What the hell…?" He then became conscious of the fact that his beam was weakening. He began channeling more of his energy into the beam in an attempt to make the castle move again. But his efforts had little effect as the beam began to shrink and the castle began retreating back into the portal. Slade continued to pump more energy into the beam, but it was all in vain. As the castle continued to retreat, one of the beams from the outer circles fizzled out. Then another. One by one the beams all the other beams followed suit, and the castle was now ascending at an even faster rate. Slade kept trying to maintain the beam, forcing almost every last ounce of his energy into the beam. He began to feel dizzy and noxious. His sight blurred and his frail human body was beginning to buckle under the pressure. His arms were becoming extremely sore from being held up towards the sky for such a long time. The weight of the energy finally got to Slade and he fell to his knees. By this time the castle had completely returned into the portal and all that was left was a large, gaping rift in the middle of the sky. Realizing that his efforts were in vain, Slade dropped his arms. The beam immediately died out and the rift quickly closed.

Once again there was nothing but the silence of the night. Slade's aching body had gotten extremely hot from being inside the beam, and he was now steaming as a result of the cool air around him. Gasping for air, he removed his mask slightly, just enough so that he could spit out a mass of blood from the back of his throat that was bothering him. After he felt he had spent enough time recovering he stood up and jumped down from his platform. He began walking off the large structure, cracking his neck and knuckles as he went. He stopped when he came across a statue that was complete up to the chest. His hands balled up into fists and he glared angrily at the statue as if the failure was its fault. He clasped his hands together above his head and they ignited. He brought them down on the statue, resulting in a large explosion of smoke and flame. When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the already worn down statue was a pile of dust and rubble. Slade brushed the dirt off his shoulder and continued walking.

"Ahh…I'm feeling better already" he waved his still burning hand in front of him and a fiery portal appeared. He stepped through it and disappeared. The portal closed behind him, leaving behind a smoking structure.

Meanwhile, in the city, a mutant moth man prepares his forces for his assault on millions of unsuspecting innocents…

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That's the end of chapter 1. Wait a few weeks for chapter 2. I'm going to be going on vacation. Hopefully, though, I can update while I'm there. Oh, and just as a quick note: this story takes place some time after Slade comes back on Raven's birthday (but not right after) but before the new season. Now that that's been cleared up, I bid you adieu.

Angrydude Beta


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